Viral video recycles old, false claim about AOC campaign finance complaint | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
3
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference with Democratic lawmakers about the Biden administrations border politics in January.

The claim: Ocasio-Cortez faces jail time for campaign finance violations

A June 19 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a Next News Network segment about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"TOP NEWS Ocasio-Cortez is DONE Faces 5 Years in Jail For FEC Crimes Here’s Her Response," reads the post.

The post was shared more than 1,800 times in less than two weeks.

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Our rating: False

The campaign finance complaint in question was filed against Ocasio-Cortez by a conservative watchdog group in 2019 and was later dismissed. An expert said the alleged violation, if proven, would have resulted in a fine, not jail time.

Federal agency dismissed complaint against AOC

The video in the post isn't new. Next News Network, which bills itself as “The Right Source For News," posted it on YouTube in 2019 with a caption identical to the more recent Facebook post. It was misleading then, and now it's flat wrong.

In 2019, the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog organization, filed a complaint against Ocasio-Cortez, alleging that she and her staff “orchestrated an extensive off-the-books operation.”

The organization claimed Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, used an adviser's limited liability company "to essentially operate her campaign without disclosing and itemizing campaign expenses," according to a statement on its website.

Ocasio-Cortez denied the group's accusations at the time. David Mitrani, an attorney representing Ocasio-Cortez, told the Associated Press the limited liability company wasn't formed to obscure campaign spending.

"Mitrani said tax and campaign finance law is vague and they formed the company out of concern that they may otherwise run afoul of the law," the AP reported.

The Federal Election Commission, which is tasked with enforcing campaign finance laws, ultimately dismissed the complaint in 2022. A document explaining the decision says, "Rather than committing the commission’s limited resources to investigating allegations that lacked significant factual support and were imperiled by the statute of limitations, we voted to dismiss."

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In response, the National Legal and Policy Center filed a lawsuit against the commission, claiming it "unlawfully and arbitrarily" dismissed the complaint.

Paul Ryan, at the time a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, told Business Insider in 2019 that even if Ocasio-Cortez and her staff did mislabel payments, it likely would only be considered a minor violation and result in a fine, not jail time as the post claims.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post and Ocasio-Cortez's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, AOC isn't facing jail for campaign finance violations | Fact check